According to NBC, authorities believe cheering, clapping and banging from Olympic viewers may have been mistaken for gunfire.
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Hundreds of passengers were evacuated after multiple shots were heard in the airport.
There was no immediate confirmation of injuries or arrests, but Port Authority (PAPD) police evacuated at least two terminals at John F. Kennedy International Airport as a precaution, and gave the all clear shortly after midnight.
Police have given the all-clear at JFK Airport after there were reports of shots fired inside Terminal 8 Sunday night, a NY law enforcement official tells CNN.
The New York Police Department was called in to assist.
Operations at the airport didn’t resume until 12:45 a.m. today after police had given the all-clear, finding no evidence of gunshots.
Reports of gunfire in Terminal 8 first came in at 9:34 p.m. Sunday, and Port Authority police evacuated the building.
Videos and photos showed people cowering behind chairs and running across a road to escape the evacuated terminals, but investigators determined there were no guns or ammunition involved at the NY airport.
A law enforcement official told NBC the whole debacle began when a woman disembarking from a plane said she had heard gunshots. “[We were] required to have our hands in the air, cops with guns in their hands everywhere”, said University of Chicago professor Bruce Cumings who was sitting and reading in Terminal 1 while awaiting his flight.
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Cummings said the shots could have been blanks. He also said that the televisions above him were tuned to CNN and not the Olympics.
